Aspire Defence is comprised of three ‘entities’

ADL holds the contract with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and is owned by three shareholders – KBR (45%) and funds managed by Innisfree (37.5%) and InfraRed (17.5%).

ADL sub-contracts to ADCW, which is delivering the construction programme, and to ADS, responsible for a broad range of facilities management services delivered over the 35 years of the Project Allenby/Connaught contract.

Managing the three areas of the business requires strong leadership. An experienced team has been brought together to ensure we deliver successfully on our contract.

Meet the Directors

Allan Thomson

Chief Executive – Aspire Defence

As Chief Executive of Aspire Defence Limited, Allan has overall responsibility for Aspire Defence and for delivery of the contracted services to the MOD. He is responsible for the financing of the Project and for the interests of the shareholders.

After a successful career in the Army, including on operations in Sierra Leone, Kosovo and Afghanistan, Allan took on the position of Chief Executive of Aspire Defence in July 2014. Having previously worked on the Army Basing Programme, he was aware of Aspire Defence and its role in supporting the British Army in the 21st Century. Allan sees this as a hugely exciting challenge in which he is proud to be involved.

Allan picked up three Masters degrees during his military service (MSc in Engineering, MA in Defence Studies and a MBA) and is a Fellow of the IET. He holds a School Governor appointment in Andover and is an amateur triathlete.

Paul Dempster

Managing Director – Aspire Defence Capital Works

On graduating from Nottingham University in 1988 with a degree in civil engineering, Paul has worked for Tarmac/Carillion since 1997. He has extensive experience in leading the construction of major healthcare schemes that have been procured through the Government’s PFI programme.

Paul has also been Managing Director of two JVs, Aspire Defence (2006-2009) and Carillion Telent (2011-2014).

He was also Director of Major Projects for the Carillion Building business but re-joined Aspire Defence in 2015 as Managing Director to lead the successful delivery of the Army Basing Programme through to 2020, valued at c. £680m.

Mark Carr

Managing Director – Aspire Defence Services

Mark spent the first 10 years of his career in the Welsh Guards serving in London, Northern Ireland, Brunei and Belize. Having completed an MBA at Cranfield, he joined British Airways to run a major change programme with the World Cargo operation.

After a period with the strategy consulting firm Marakon, he spent seven years with Capita leading outsourcing contracts with a range of local authority clients. This was followed by four years with Mouchel managing local council partnership deals providing Property, Housing Management, HR and IT services.

In 2012 he joined Carillion where he undertook a number of roles including being the MD of Carillion Telent, a JV providing civil engineering services to build and maintain the telecoms network for BT Openreach across the country.